The Common Mix Up Job
by wintergreen825
Summary: Ninjas weren't that far outside what the team normally dealt with in the terms of fighters. Ninjas that threw lightning and could make people sleep on command was, however. Now they're down a hitter with no clues on where to start looking for their missing member. Luckily, Nate knows a guy from his days in insurance.


**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, Parker is not in a very good headspace in this part with lots of self-abuse and internalized abuse/ableism going on. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** Honestly, I have only ever read Jet's Leverage fanfiction, so I have absolutely no clue if this premise is a common trope in the fandom or not. Also, while I have seen every episode of _The Librarians_ and all three movies, my viewing of _Leverage_ is more scattered and much of it is out of order. So if I get things chronologically out of order here, that's why and I'm sorry/not sorry.

**Dedication:** to Jet. Happy Christmas, from your Secret Santa. Read with tissues ready.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A (SSE; FaB; DP; TY; T3; SN; O3; FR; LiCK  
**Individual Challenges:** More than England; Leverage in the Library; Fore-Touch; Mastermind MC; Hacker MC; Grifter MC; Thief MC; Seeds; Shipmas; No Proof; Interesting Times; New Fandom Smell (x2) (Y x2); Providing Leverage; In the Library; Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A [Love] (Y); Themes & Things B [Protection] (Y); Lovely Triangle; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Quiet Time; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; Letter of the Day; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon (Y); Yellow Ribbon Redux (Y); Green Ribbon (Y)  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 11 – Post Assignments  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [855] (Teammates); 365 [30] (Perfect); Galleon Club (Hurt/Comfort)  
**Other MC4A Challenges (Prompt): **Fa Bingo [5D] (Blanket)**  
Representation(s):** Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer; Autistic Parker; Team as Family; Dark Mental Space; Sophie Devereaux  
**Bonus Challenges: **Hot Stuff; Esbat; Second Verse (Bechdel Test; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; White Dress; Found Family; Nontraditional; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Plates; Three's Company; Lovely Coconuts; Uncivil Obedience; Under the Bridge); Chorus (Endless Wonder; Odd Feathers; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Peddling Pots; Tomorrow's Shade; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Surprise!; Turtle-Duck)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** DP (Terse; Yearn); TY (Ntaiv); T3 (Terse; Tether); SN (Rail; Spare); LiCK (Poppy; Tansy; Yarrow); O3 (Oath); FR (n/a)  
**Word Count:** 979

(^^)  
**The Common Mix Up Job**  
Part 01: Parker and the Blame Game  
(^^)

"I'm telling you that someone had to have hacked the feed, man," Hardison repeated, just as adamant as the first time he had told Nate that. Nate was silent as he and Sophie watched the CCTV footage for the gazillionth time. Parker curled tighter into her nook in the rafters of Nate's fancy apartment. The spot was hidden in shadows due to the late hour. Even the moon was completely dark, which was for the best really. She didn't deserve light and warmth and comfort.

Not when she failed to stop Eliot from being taken.

She had been right _there_, and she hadn't stopped those ninja wannabes.

She hadn't protected him like she should have. Now everyone was arguing and yelling, except when they were being extra sneaky and talking in hissing whispers. It was probably about how to best to tell her to leave. She knew that she deserved to be sent away.

That was what happened when you weren't good enough, after all.

She had never been enough. Not for her birth parents or the string of group homes. Even Archie hadn't wanted to keep her for reals. She had been stupid, stupid, _stupid_ to think that she had finally found a real home with a real family. It had been going so well, too.

Parker tucked her face into her knees to muffle the sniffle that she couldn't suppress.

The team didn't need her. They had Parker 2000, after all. Bet Parker 2000 wouldn't lose teammates because they decided to take a spontaneous nap in the middle of a fight. Bet Parker 2000 would be able to find Eliot on their own, too, without having to ask for help.

The mechanical bitch was even green.

They really were perfect.

Not like Parker who messed everything up and _lost Eliot_.

"Parker," Nate called, "will you come down here, please?"

For a few heartbeats, she considered refusing. As long as she kept to the rafters, the team could pretend that she was gone. Maybe that would be good enough for them. Maybe they wouldn't actually tell her to leave if she stayed out of their way. It was cowardly and weak, but it was better than the alternative. Money wasn't nearly as much fun without someone to spend it with.

"Please, sweetheart," Sophie added. Her voice still sounded so nice and polished and _soft_, just like it always did when she was talking to Parker. It was almost as if she hadn't lost Eliot and deserved to be banished.

But she had and she did.

Determined to not sulk like a stupid little kid, Parker swung out of her nook to flip gracefully to the floor between Nate and Sophie. She couldn't find in in her to raise her face to see their disappointed faces close up, though. She just stood as still as possible, her gaze fixed on the ground in front of her feet. She sensed Sophie moving closer and mentally braced for the blow that she was sure to get.

She deserved it.

She deserved it.

She deserved it.

But Sophie didn't hit her. Instead, she wrapped Parker in the blanket that Eliot kept on Nate's couch. It still smelled like the oil he preferred for his knives. Parker pressed a corner to her nose and mouth. She had been helping him sharpen his cooking set when they had decided to make a run for cucumbers because she had eaten the last of the stash that Nate kept around for her and Sophie.

If she hadn't been so selfish, they wouldn't have been out on the streets to be attacked by light-throwing ninjas. Then she wouldn't have just fallen asleep right in the middle of the fight. And most importantly, Eliot wouldn't have been taken right out from under her protection.

She was _stupid, stupid, stupid_, just like everyone had always said.

"Oh, _sweetheart_," Sophie whispered into Parker's hair. Her breath against Parker's forehead was as warm and comforting and nice as her arms wrapped around Parker over Eliot's blankets. "You are not in any way, shape, or form _stupid_. This is also not your fault, sweetheart."

"Is too," Parker argued. Her voice sounded thick and wet and miserable, even to her. She wasn't like Sophie, who knew everything about how a person thought and felt because of something tiny like how they twitched an eyebrow while laughing. She couldn't even figure out how she felt without a drawn-out tangle of time to figure it out. That was why it had taken so long to figure out that she didn't mind having pretzels with both Eliot and Alec. They had just decided that they were together and now _this_. They hadn't even told Nate and Sophie yet. "And are too."

"Well, I happen to think you are brilliant," Nate argued from his nearby lean against one of the columns that led up to the rafters. "I also think—sorry, slight correction: I _know_ that this was not your fault. I don't know who these people are or why they wanted Eliot specifically, but I do know that not a single one of us could have stopped this. I also know someone who handles this sort of thing."

Nate shoved off the wall with a low grunt of effort. Then he walked over to the stretch of kitchen island he tended to use as a desk (given that Hardison had commandeered the actual desk in the apartment). Parker peeked cautiously around Sophie's arm to keep an eye on him, unwilling to move out of the hug in case they all decided that they wanted to actually send her away after all.

"Who could handle ninjas that throw lights that make people sleep?" Hardison demanded. Nate looked up from rummaging through his rolodex. With an expression of complete seriousness on his face, Nate answered drily.

"A Librarian."

(^^)  
To Be Continued  
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End file.
